Panerai 00026K courtesy or GUSH

When I bought my first Panerai back in 2004 (a G serial 00177) I thought along with my Rolex sea-dweller it would be the only model from the brand I would buy.........how wrong I was.....

After having stopped visiting the Paneristi website for a number of years due to work and personal commitments completely by chance I commented on a thread on another forum ( Osit Archive) to which I am a member. It was a timepiece thread and somebody put a pic up of a PVD 360! I instantly knew I had to have this PVD beauty, after contacting the member it turns out to be our very own Adrian, COVAC! I was then informed about the story of the 360 and quickly realised that obtaining one was going to be virtually impossible, unless that is I wanted to spend mega bucks and pay considerable flippers tax!

Ade then invited me along to the DBA meet last September and I can well and truly say that the bug has bitten me again. It was great to meet some of the guys at the DBA and see first hand some of the PVD watches in the metal as I had only ever seen them in pictures. I was well and truly smitten by the 360, there were 11 in attendance that day and an amazing 9A I think it was that belonged to a guy from Liverpool. The search for a PVD began that day.

Fast forward to May 2012 when GUSH puts up a FS thread in Collectors Market! PAM00026K! Now I am not left handed so technically a 28L may be better suited for me but I don't like the dial on that so with having deep pockets and VERY short arms the 26K was the perfect compromise. Clearly from GUSH' recent thread he had managed to track down a 26A, hence the sale of this.

So fast forward to yesterday, with help from Adrian who collected the watch on my behalf from GUSH I drove down to Dunton Bassett and collected my first PVD Panerai.

The 2008 SE PAM00026K

I took this picture this morning as I was setting off to work, thought it captured pretty much everything that needed to be captured about this truly astonishing machine. When I picked it up Ade got his 360 out to compare the 2 watches and the DLC is identical on both, if any of you 360 left handed owners out there are slightly tapped in the head and would fancy a trade with this by all means get in touch. as nice at the 26K is the 360 is just sublime and truly a grail of mine.

So I would just like to extend my thanks and gratitude to GUSH for allowing this precious piece out of his collection and giving me the opportunity to now not only have a PVD Panerai for my collections but also a Destro, after a day of wearing it it feels very comfortable and granted it has taken a bit of getting used to I am certain it's something that will be with me for a long time.

A big thanks also has to go to Ade for being the go between on the transaction. It really couldn't have gone any smoother!